by TChris

Echoing some of the concerns raised by bloggers, the mainstream press is asking questions about John Negroponte, President Bush's nominee as director of national intelligence.

[As ambassador to] Honduras, Mr. Negroponte "looked the other way" when evidence of rights violations came to light, said Reed Brody, counsel to Human Rights Watch. "Unfortunately," Mr. Brody said, "today the United States is involved in serious human rights crimes committed in the process of collecting intelligence. Is he just going to look the other way again?"

While this is the kind of question that Senate Democrats should raise during Negroponte's confirmation hearing, don't count on any serious opposition from a party paralyzed by fear of being labeled "obstructionist."

Talon News reporter Jeff Gannon goes public again, saying he made mistakes but he is still entitled to be a journalist. He denies improper White House access, having a permanent White House pass and ever seeing Valerie Plame documents. John Aravosis of AmerciaBlog is named throughout the WaPo piece and Gannon is forced to respond to his allegations.

Gannon's story of why he used a pseudonym doesn't quite ring true. He says it's because his name is hard to pronounce. James Guckert. So why not be James Gannon instead of Jeff Gannon then?

Crooks and Liars has the video of Gannon's appearance Friday on Anderson Cooper's 360.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist, battling thyroid cancer, will miss the first two weeks of oral arguments when the Court resumes Tuesday. This is fueling speculation about his retirement.

Bush has also recently submitted 20 judicial nominations to the Senate, 12 of whom were previously rejected.

Since judicial appointments will be a signifcant topic in coming weeks and months, we have added a section of judiciary links on the right side of TalkLeft. These are sites where you can learn about the nominations process and the courts as well as details about potential and current nominees. They are not neutral organizatins, but organizations whose views we usually agree with. You can bookmark them now, or access them when the time comes. They are:

• Alliance for Justice
• Independent Judiciary
• People for American Way

Crim Prof Blog reports that Bush's budget cuts money from the war on drugs:

Many state and local drug enforcement officials are upset with President Bush's proposed budget. It would cut federal grants for state and local efforts in the war on drugs, ending most of the support for hundreds of anti-drug task forces in more than 40 states across the country." Listen to detailed NPR report by Greg Allen.

We couldn't be happier.

Denver police went national tonight hoping someone in the public or a prison in another state would be able to lead them to Brent Brents, a recently released sexual offender suspected of sexually assaulting a grandmother and two young girls the other night in a neighborhood near downtown Denver. He's suspected of five assaults on women this week--all within a mile or so of each other.

Tonight, they thought he struck again. When police got word of an assault one block from the site of the last attack, 100 of them surrounded the home. Now, the entire neighborhood is sealed off. But, [edit: they don't know if]it's the same guy.

Tonight's guy was with a woman and fled half naked in the attacked woman's car--a gray 2004 Mazda 6 sedan with license plate 980 KLS. The woman he attacked is in the hospital. No clear word on her injuries, or whether she was sexually assaulted.

This is my neighborhood, and I'm out of coffee for the morning, but I think I'll stay by the computer and not venture out again this evening. I'd rather just broadcast the car description again, gray 2004 Mazda 6 sedan with license plate 980 KLS. If you see it, call 911.

Law Prof Doug Berman of Sentencing Law and Policy makes it sound so easy....Just back from a week in Washington attending hearings where he testified before the Sentencing Commission, he writes:

...Many Commissioners and witnesses at the USSC hearings (basics here) expressed the view that judges at sentencing must now

• (1) calculate an applicable guideline range, and then
• (2) make traditional departure determinations under the guidelines, and then
• (3) decide whether to follow or vary from the (now advisory) guidelines based on the 3553(a) factors.

But, Prof. Berman says, beware:

Here's our feel good story of the day: The Nebraska Supreme Court has granted clemency to Murphy, an Alaskan malamute-shepherd. Murphy had been sentenced to death for fighting with another dog.

We conclude that the order for the destruction of the dog was not reasonable," wrote high court Judge John Wright. "The county court ... abused its discretion." He noted that the other dog's owner waited two days to have the dog seen by a veterinarian, and the bill was only $34.06.

At the sentencing hearing last fall, the sheriff and vet were on Murphy's side. Only the prosecutor had called Murphy vicious.

.... the Dittoes' lawyer, Mark Fahleson, said authorities trying to kill the dog were demonstrating "a bloodthirsty vengeance once thought reserved for only the most cold-blooded of human killers."

The prosecutor's boss was fine with today's ruling:

Attorney General Jon Bruning did not seem particularly upset Friday that his office lost. "Every dog has its day," he said.

Murphy's owners are scheduling a party, and report Murphy is likely to get a steak.

Senate bill 60 in Texas would require judges in capital cases to instruct juries that they can consider life without parole as an option in capital murder cases. Prosecutors are divided in their opinion of the bill. The bill was introduced by Sen. Eddie Lucio in November and is now in the criminal justice committee.

Some Texas newspapers and columnists are more enlightened. Today, Seth Oldmixon of the Daily Texan provides vigorous support for the bill. The Brownsville Herald in this editorial also weighs in in favor of the bill.

If you live in Texas and either oppose the death penalty or believe jurors are entitled to know they have this option, contact your legislators and let them know. Check out the Texas Moratorium Network and their activism center.

Voting is scheduled to end today in the Third Annual Kaufax liberal blogging awards, hosted by Wampum . TalkLeft is proud to have been voted a finalist in two categories:

Best Single Issues Blog

and

Best Expert Blog.

It's a very tough race this year. If you'd like to vote for us, you can vote by scrolling down to the end of the comments section using the links above, or e-mail your votes directly to Wampum (If you vote by e-mail, be sure to mention the category, single issue or expert.)

Be sure to cast your vote in both categories. Your support in the final round of voting is greatly appreciated.

Newly elected Colorado Senator Ken Salazar's votes have puzzled many Democrats who voted for him. I write about why, here. The important question: Which way will he go with judicial nominations, particularly that of William G. Meyer, III, whom Democrats strongly oppose for his environmental record?

Sometimes the Constitution makes strange bedfellows. As is the case with this book review of Fox News' Senior Judicial Analyst Andrew Napolitano's book, Constitutional Chaos: What Happens When the Government Breaks Its Own Laws, by Cato director Timothy Lynch, in of all places, the right-leaning American Spectator, and TalkLeft, a liberal, criminal defense-oriented site.

From Lynch's review:

NAPOLITANO HAS EARNED RESPECT from lawyers across the political spectrum because of his nonpartisan approach to legal and constitutional analysis. He has wisely brought the neutrality that everyone expects from a judge to his job as a commentator at the Fox Network and to his book about the Constitution. He calls 'em as he sees 'em. Thus, in some places he criticizes Janet Reno; in other places, John Ashcroft. And it is refreshing to see a judge defend not only the First Amendment, but the Second Amendment as well. Napolitano reminds the reader that we ought not to take a cafeteria approach to our constitutional liberties. Hear, hear.

Friday's Guardian reports on documents it has received that disclose torture of prisoners at Bagram and Kandahar in Afhanistan. The documents allege that prisoners were subjected to mock exeuctions, sexually humiliated and, in some cases, raped. "Trophy" photographs were taken of the abuse and destroyed. The Guardian obtained the documents from the ACLU, which received them pursuant to it's Freedom of Information Act request.

Photographs taken in southern Afghanistan showing US soldiers from the 22nd Infantry Battalion posing in mock executions of blindfolded and bound detainees, were purposely destroyed after the Abu Ghraib scandal to avoid "another public outrage", the documents show. Here's one case:

In the dossier, the Iraqi detainee claims that three US interrogators in civilian clothing dislocated his arms, stuck an unloaded gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger, choked him with a rope until he lost consciousness, and beat him with a baseball bat.

"After they tied me up in the chair, then they dislocate my both arms. He asked to admit before I kill you then he beat again and again," the prisoner says in his statement. "He asked me: Are you going to report me? You have no evidence. Then he hit me very hard on my nose, and then he stepped on my nose until he broken and I started bleeding."